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Human Cadaver Dissection: A Writer’s Reflections

Whenever I tell someone that I am in school the question that almost always follows is, “What classes are you taking?”

It’s a normal question to ask, but not so comfortable for me to answer. See, last term I was recommended by my human anatomy professor for enrollment in a class that is only offered once per year: human cadaver prosection. Out of the hundreds of anatomy students at my school I was given one of the fourteen seats reserved for the dissection of a human cadaver. It’s an incredible opportunity, albeit one that elicits some very odd looks when I tell people how excited I am to be a part of it.

Right about now some of you are thinking, “Well, it’s official. Scott has completely lost his mind.”

And that’s cool. I totally get it. Poking around the inside of a human being isn’t something that appeals to everyone. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure most of you are happy that someone has done it, right? Because without actually getting into the body and examining its parts we’d be hard pressed to truly understand how we tick.

For the next couple of months I am going to post reflections on my time in the dissecting room. I feel like this class lands pretty high on the list of writing-worthy experiences, so I am not going to pass it up.

If any of you reading this have any thoughts on the subject I’d love to see them in the comments.

2 thoughts on “Human Cadaver Dissection: A Writer’s Reflections”

Totally know what you mean! I work at a human tissue bank where we actually get the cadavers ready to send to universities, colleges, and labs. Definitely changes the way you look at the human body, that’s for sure. It’s so awesome that people are willing to donate their bodies. You’re right, how would science and medical advancements happen if we never used the real thing to experiment on. Looking forward to reading the rest of your posts!